Coal-Heavy States Press FERC for any Action on Resilience to Help Troubled Generators
By Catherine Morehouse
Utility Dive
WASHINGTON, DC (Oct. 2, 2019) – Six state regulators are pressing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prioritize its resilience docket, citing concerns over rapid coal plant retirements, Bloomberg first reported Monday.
Utility commissioners from Wyoming, Montana, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky wrote separate letters to FERC, asking the commission to take action on the resilience docket opened in response to its unanimous rejection of the Department of Energy’s bid to subsidize coal and nuclear resources.
FERC had largely kicked the question of resilience over to regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs). “The fact that FERC hasn’t acted in an [administrative] docket like this is not particularly unusual,” Jeff Dennis, managing director and general counsel at Advanced Energy Economy told Utility Dive. “It really just reflects the fact that the inquiry didn’t reveal any need for FERC to take any action.”